Excellent analysis and I think you have hit upon what I feel although there are some exceptions in the indy comics worlds that have plenty of words and not so much on the backgrounds. To be honest, I am one of those that don't mind books with or without backgrounds, for me it is more what is the artist's style. If the cartooning works, I don't need anything (Peanuts is a good example). I don't know how much of it is specific editorial mandate and how much of it is on the writers and artists. I think there is some pressure to get the stories roughly within trade size but there are examples of stories in one part, two parts, 11 parts, etc.fudd71 wrote:Take into account that the average book has also gone from 22 pages to 20 pages that means the book today with no splash pages would have 44.4% less content than an issue from the older era (5.93 X 22 pages vs. 3.63 X 20 pages). So yes in some ways you are really getting half an issue now compared to the older days.
The other thing that is easily noticeable looking at the older books is the number of words on the page.
Editors have also been trained by fans that they don’t like too many words, so they coach their writers that way. So why it is easy for fans to complain about decompressed stories it is ultimately the fan’s tastes in art and lack of words on the page that has brought us to this current state of decompressed storytelling. As long as fans demand better more detailed art and fewer words on the page I’m not sure what writers can do to tell stories faster.
If I am going to lay blame it is on the movie-phication of comics. Here is where I put on my crazy old man hat because I hate this, if a few people did it, it would be ok. What I mean by that is a rejection of some elements that are fine in cartooning and stress storytelling techniques that mimic movies/tv. I think it was a perceived way to make comics seem more grown-up. Hence we have to remove the thought balloons. They sometimes use caption boxes for the same effect but that is merely the "narration" so they can justify it. Another is using several panels to zoom in (a Bendis special). I would also throw in the overuse of cut-aways and static shots (usually for a bit of humor). No storytelling technique should be banned but I hate the overuse/neglect of some. If editorial want to do some meddling, they could try to have consistent portrayal of the characters as they appear in different issues almost at the same time.
OK, getting off my soapbox.
My LCS has a pretty good selection and a nice discount on all new issues. I have special ordered 1 comic there because it was from 215 Ink which is a publisher he doesn't carry. I am a problematic customer in that I don't have a pull list nor do I know what I will buy week in and week out. I feel that if he is just acting like a catalog then why wouldn't I use DCBS or some other mailorder and save myself stopping by on Wednesday.
In addition to the other complaints on Age of Ultron, I am probably the only person who was so-so on the art. I didn't always recognize who was who until they were identified (Hammerhead leaps to mind). On the story:
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those Ultron robots seem like garbage. There are a bunch of them and Clint takes one (or maybe all, couldn't tell at the time and don't have the book on me thought that was poor storytelling) with his improvised exploding arrow. These are the feared baddies? You would think that She-Hulk or Luke Cage could tear through them if an exploding arrow so quickly defeats them
The effect worked but was overdone to my liking. The art should be an appeal.I did read issue 2 and
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I am sad that 2 issues in and we don't have any action from the big bad of the series. Is this the new James Bond movie, no, those actually start with exciting action pieces, not just guns vs bows. You have super-powers and 2 issues in it is all guns. I don't mind big dumb fun events but these are super powers people, use them. I don't need another half (bleep) terminator/road warrior movie.
